A Guide to Pitching Your Songs to Music Supervisors
We are witnessing it becoming challenging to make money as an independent artist. Having your music heard or making an income as a musician requires you to license it to different sources. A great way to do that is to pitch your music for “on-screen” uses, i.e. films, tv series, commercials, etc. Not only is that a great source of income, but it also allows for your music to be heard by thousands if not millions. Let’s dive into the who, what, where and how of pitching your music.
Who should I pitch my music to?
A Music Supervisor. According to The Guild of Music Supervisors, a music supervisor is “a qualified professional who oversees all music-related aspects of film, television, advertising, video games, and other existing or emerging visual media platforms as required.”
What do you need to do in order to find one?
Do your research. The first thing you would need to do is familiarize yourself with the venture you are interested in entering. Learn some of the basic things you will need to know about music supervisors and your rights as a licensee.
Next, look for a directory with names and contact information for companies and supervisors. SongwriterUniverse has a top-notch directory of industry professionals. However, before you reach out to them, make sure they are accepting unsolicited material. If they are, see what they’re looking for. If your music is a match to what they are looking for, share it with them. You do not want to spam or share music that isn’t relevant to the person you are pitching to. It is a sure way of well… not blacklisting yourself, but the supervisors being apprehensive about working with you in the future.
While you might find profiles of supervisors on Facebook and Twitter, the two are informal platforms of communication. LinkedIn is the way to go if you want to connect and build business relationships with people from the same industry as you. A friendly tip: when you’re connecting with people on LinkedIn, it is best to send them a personalized message rather than nothing, links to your work or the standard LinkedIn message. It shows the other person, you’ve done your research and are not spamming them and allowing them the choice to decide whether they want to cultivate a relationship with you.
Music conferences are also a great way to meet people within the industry. Not only will you get to meet executives and people that could potentially hire you or help jumpstart your career, but you also get to build connections with peers.
What’s the next step?
Once you’ve made a list of the music supervisors you’d like to connect with, and you’ve made sure to do your research on what music they accept, draft an email. Be mindful about their time and keep the pitch light and professional. When reaching out, share streaming, and download links to your music rather than mp3 files. Your metadata needs to be correct and the genre you are pitching for needs to be specific.
The tone of your email, while light, should be informative and professional. If the supervisor likes your pitch and the music is of great quality, they will reach out to you. Since they receive hundreds of emails a day, they might not respond with feedback. If not, be judicious about following up.